Improving Classroom Acoustics (ICA): A Three-Year FM Sound Field Classroom Amplification Study.

The Improving Classroom Acoustics (ICA) special project was designed to determine if students' listening and learning behaviors improved as a result of an acoustical environment enhanced through the use of FM sound field classroom amplification. The 3-year project involved 2,054 students in 94 general education kindergarten, first-, and second-grade classrooms in 33 elementary schools in Florida. The Easy Listener Freefield System[TMJ by Phonic Ear was provided in 64 experimental (amplified) classrooms, and the remaining 30 classrooms served as control (unamplified) classes. Analysis of observational data on 1,750 students indicated that students in amplified classrooms demonstrated significant improvement in listening and learning behaviors and skills, and progressed at a faster rate than their grade-alike peers in unamplified classrooms, and that younger students demonstrated the greatest improvement. Data showed that noise levels (dBA) and acoustical treatments in elementary classrooms have not changed over the past decade. FM sound field classroom amplification provided teachers with an average 6.94 dBA increase in vocal intensity. Students, teachers, parents, and school administrators gave FM sound field classroom amplification a positive evaluation. Finally, data demonstrated that this instructional delivery equipment is a cost effective means to manage an important variable in early-grade classrooms--the intensity of the teacher's voice. (Contains 56 references, 11 tables, and 7 figures.) (Author/EV) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Journal of Educational Audiology 7 (1999) Improving Classroom Acoustics (ICA): A Three-Year FM Sound Field Classroom Amplification Study PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

[1]  D. A. Sanders,et al.  Noise Conditions in Normal School Classrooms , 1965, Exceptional children.

[2]  J. Pickett,et al.  Monaural and binaural speech perception through hearing aids under noise and reverberation with normal and hearing-impaired listeners. , 1974, Journal of speech and hearing research.

[3]  Carl C. Crandell.  Using sound field FM amplification in the educational setting , 1998 .

[4]  A. Nabelek,et al.  Monaural and binaural speech perception in reverberation for listeners of various ages. , 1982, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[5]  Dawna E. Lewis,et al.  Assistive Devices for Classroom Listening , 1994 .

[6]  Dawna E. Lewis,et al.  Assistive Devices for Classroom ListeningFM Systems , 1994 .

[7]  D W Downs,et al.  Processing demands during auditory learning under degraded listening conditions. , 1978, Journal of speech and hearing research.

[8]  Frederick S. Berg.  Acoustics and Sound Systems in Schools , 1993 .

[9]  Frederick S. Berg,et al.  Facilitating Classroom Listening: A Handbook for Teachers of Normal and Hard of Hearing Students , 1987 .

[10]  R Leavitt,et al.  Speech degradation as measured by the Rapid Speech Transmission Index (RASTI). , 1991, Ear and hearing.

[11]  R. Fior,et al.  Physiological maturation of auditory function between 3 and 13 years of age. , 1972, Audiology : official organ of the International Society of Audiology.

[12]  L. L. Elliott.  Performance of children aged 9 to 17 years on a test of speech intelligibility in noise using sentence material with controlled word predictability. , 1979, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[13]  T W Tillman,et al.  Room acoustics effects on monosyllabic word discrimination ability for normal and hearing-impaired children. , 1978, Journal of speech and hearing research.

[14]  C F Papso,et al.  Word recognition skills of children and adults in background noise. , 1989, Ear and hearing.

[15]  K. Anderson,et al.  Hearing Conservation in the Public Schools Revisited , 1991 .

[16]  Carl C. Crandell,et al.  Speech Recognition in Noise by Children with Minimal Degrees of Sensorineural Hearing loss , 1993 .

[17]  W. A. Utley,et al.  The disturbance caused to school teachers by noise , 1980 .

[18]  Frederick S. Berg,et al.  Classroom Acoustics: The Problem, Impact, and Solution. , 1996 .

[19]  A Markides,et al.  Speech levels and speech-to-noise ratios. , 1986, British journal of audiology.

[20]  A. Neuman,et al.  Children's perception of speech in reverberation. , 1983, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[21]  Patrick Rabbitt.  Recognition: Memory for words correctly heard in noise , 1966 .

[22]  G. Verleden,et al.  Foreword , 1992, Steroids.

[23]  Noel D. Matkin,et al.  Room Acoustics: The Forgotten Variable? , 1976 .